1. And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of
the earth:

11. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit
of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

12. The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all
the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

13. And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if
that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:

1. And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken. He teaches the same thing as before in different words; but the diversity of expression, as well as the repetition, tends
to its confirmation. First, God says that He would deal with them so bountifully that they should excel all other nations;
for this is the meaning of the words, that
they should be illustrious above all the rest of the world on account of the special blessings of God. He afterwards enumerates
the blessings which shall never depart from them, if they persevere in the service of God; and here it must be observed that
they are reminded, not only in how many ways God is bountiful towards His servants, but also to how many necessities they
are exposed, which require His direct and constant aid; for if we are blessed in the city and in the field, we can no more
move a foot than stand still, except by His blessing. Such also is the tendency of the whole list, that a scarcity of
all things impends over us at every moment, unless God should continually succor us by remedies sent down from heaven, and
that every good thing can only come from that one source.

9. The Lord shall establish thee a holy people unto himself. This refers indeed to earthly blessings, as if Moses said, that by them would be manifested God’s love towards His chosen
people; still it rises higher, so that the Israelites, led on by degrees, should learn to embrace God alone, and to trust
in Him according to the covenant which
He had made with Abraham, “I am thy exceeding great reward.” (Genesis 15:1.) For the children of Abraham were set apart and chosen to be a holy people, not only in order that, being well fed, and
with a full belly, they should aspire to nothing but earthly things, but that they might be confidently assured that they
would be blessed in death as well as life. Although their adoption was
gratuitous, still, inasmuch as they were called unto purity, it is not without reason that God promises that what He had
spoken should be sure, if by keeping the Law the Israelites themselves should continue in the covenant; as much as to say,
that their sanctification
215215 “Leur election.” — Fr.
should be firm and perpetual if they walked in the commandments of the Law. When He adds that it should be manifest “to
216216 “And all the people of the earth shall see that those are called by the name of the Lord.” — A.V. “And all peoples of the earth shall see that the name of Jehovah is called upon thee,” i.e., “thou art called by his name.” — Ainsworth.
all people of the earth that the name of God was called upon them,” it is equivalent to saying, that it should be known
that they were under God’s defense and patronage, and that thus they should always be safe and secure in His protection.

12. The Lord shall open to thee his good treasure. He again repeats, that the goodness of God shines forth in many ways in the life of men, since He not only supplies the
bread that they eat, but that the rain which descends from heaven waters the earth; and that thus He produces whatever is
required for food from His plenteous store-house
or treasure. Let us learn, therefore, both above and beneath, as well in the temperature of the atmosphere, in the quickening
heat of the sun, in the rain, and in other means, as in the fertility of the earth, to contemplate the manifold riches which
God brings forth from His treasures. And when He declares that He will bless the work of our hands, hence, too, let us learn
that we can attain nothing by our industry and hardest labors, except in so far as God vouchsafes us good success; and that
all our efforts without His secret blessing are mere useless fatigue. For the figure which Paul uses in reference to the
spiritual culture of the Church, is taken from nature itself:

“Neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.” (1 Corinthians 3:7.)

God would not, indeed, have
217217 “Que nous demeurions assis, et lesjambes croissees comme des faineans;” that we should remain seated, with our legs crossed,
like do-nothings. — Fr.
us lie idle, and therefore He requires the labor of our hands, but He would have the fruit of our labors attributed to
Himself.

After having spoken of the whole Law, and forbidden that they should turn aside to the right or the left, He adverts to the
principal point, i.e., that they should not revolt to strange gods. Wherefore, the sum comes to this, that, in order that God may continue to
shew us the favor which He has begun towards us, we ought on our sides to be altogether submissive to His rule. This indeed
He demands of us by His word, and enables us
to perform it by the power of His Spirit; not, it is true, fully to do our duty, but to strive to reach the goal; and,
whereas we are far from attaining perfection, His indulgence supplies what is wanting in us.

Here, however, a difficult question arises, — If all prosperity proceeds from the peculiar blessing which God vouchsafes to
His servants, whence is it that many of His despisers have children, easy and happy circumstances, abundance of the fruits
of fire earth, enjoyment and luxury, honors and power? I answer, that the happy condition of life, which He assigns to His
servants, does not prevent Him from diffusing His bounty promiscuously over the
whole human race. He is truly called in Psalm 36:6, the preserver of “man and beast.” It is said elsewhere,
218218 See margin A.V., “Merciful, or bountiful in all his works.”
that His mercy is extended over all His creatures, (Psalm 145:17;) and justly does Christ exalt His unbounded goodness, in that “He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good.” (Matthew 5:45.) But equally true is the exclamation of the Prophet;

“Oh, how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up
for them that fear thee!” (Psalm 31:19.)

For since all without exception enjoy all the supports of life, God’s goodness, which thus contends with the wickedness of
men, shines forth universally even towards the ungodly, so that He does not cease to cherish and preserve those whom He has
created, although they be unworthy. He therefore does good to the ungodly, because He is their Creator; besides, in order
to keep the minds of believers in suspense in expectation of the final judgment,
He now suffers many things to be confusedly mixed together, and hides His judgment in the darkness of night, as it were,
or at least under clouds; whilst He also so tempers His patience towards the reprobate, as that, in this confusion of which
I have spoken, some signs of His anger and favor are manifested. Thus, although the government of the world is not yet reduced
to a perfect rule, still God shews by it that He is both the avenger of sins and the rewarder of righteousness, and some sparks
are seen through the darkness; whilst the faithful, although they do not attain to the full enjoyment of the blessing
promised them, nevertheless taste of it as far as is expedient. But to the ungodly, although they abound with all sorts of
good things, not a single drop of God’s goodness is dispensed; for unless a sense of God’s paternal favor is awakened by His
blessing, the blessing itself ceases to exist; nay, the more they gorge themselves, they attain to a deadly fatness; and God
purposely lifts them up, that He may cast them down more heavily from their high estate. In a word, they are fed, as the
Prophet says,
219219 No reference is here given in the original. The allusion might be to Jeremiah 12:3, or 51:40.
“unto the day of slaughter.”

It must be concluded, therefore, that the blessings which God here promises to His servants are seasoned by Him with spiritual
salt, lest they should be tasteless; whilst the reprobate, who are destitute of a sense of His grace, are also deprived altogether
of all His blessings. There still, however, remains a difficulty, because the felicity here spoken of does not always, nor
equally fall to the lot of God’s servants; nay, even under the Law
they were sharply tried by many troubles and adversities. I answer, that since none, not even the most holy, was ever
a perfect keeper of the Law, since none was ever free from all transgression, it is no cause of surprise that they only partially
enjoyed the promised blessings; inasmuch as they were not fit recipients (capaces) of their fullness; and, if it sometimes happens that they are chastised more severely than the ungodly, neither in this
is there any absurdity, since God usually
begins His judgment at His own house. (Isaiah 10:12; 1 Peter 4:17.) Still, even in this confusion we see what the Prophet teaches, that the righteous are never forsaken, (Psalm 37:25,) and that they are like green and fruitful olive-trees in the courts
of the Lord, (Psalm 52:8,) whilst the ungodly, although for a season they may be exalted like cedars of Lebanon, yet are plucked up in a moment by
the roots, so that no trace of them remains.

216 “And all the people of the earth shall see that those are called by the name of the Lord.” — A.V. “And all peoples of the earth shall see that the name of Jehovah is called upon thee,” i.e., “thou art called by his name.” — Ainsworth.